A pirate radio station sparked an alert - when garage music it was broadcasting swamped the cockpits of planes coming in to land at Birmingham.

A pirate radio station sparked an alert - when garage music it was broadcasting swamped the cockpits of planes coming in to land at Birmingham.

Pilots making their final descent into Birmingham International Airport found instructions from air traffic controllers drowned out by the music.

Because of the specific location of the interference as the planes flew over the city, inspectors were able to trace the pirate radio station to a tower block in Highgate.

Officers from Ofcom, backed up by police, raided the flat on Wednesday afternoon and pulled the plug on the broadcast, seizing a crude transmitter and aerials.

A hunt was continuing today to trace the station's studio and DJ, thought to have been operating from a nearby site and beaming the transmission to the transmitter.

"This is not just some guys having a bit of fun and trying to get their break in radio," a spokesman for communications watchdog Ofcom said

"This has the potential to cause massive problems for essential services."

A spokesman for the National Air Traffic Control Service stressed that there had been no threat to the safe landing of the passenger jets as the interference was limited to an area just above the city centre.

It is understood pilots whose flight path took them over the city centre were informed to be aware of the interference.

Ofcom, tasked with tackling pirate radio stations, said the inspectors used high-powered directional receivers to pinpoint the pirates.

"There was not a safety issue in this case although we take these situations seriously," said an Ofcom spokesman.

"We have come across this particular station before. Our next step is to find out who these guys behind it are."